DOCUMENT DUMP: EPA on Monday released the first batch of emails from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s “Richard Windsor” alias email account, in response to a lawsuit brought by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The first of four batches the agency agreed to release monthly, it includes 2,100 emails of a search of 3,000 “responsive documents” from the administrator’s email account that included any of the search terms coal, climate, endanger or MACT, as requested by CEI.

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If you were thinking of rooting through the thousands of pages of emails released by the agency, ME won’t stop you, but we can save you some time: There’s nothing much of interest. EPA took the low-hanging fruit in the first release; it includes mostly all-staff emails Jackson sent out, daily collections of news and blog clips and four years of Google alerts.

NOT HAPPY: CEI’s father of the Richard Windsor FOIA lawsuit, Chris Horner, wasn’t happy with his first round of results. “’Waiter, the food was terrible, and portions too small!’,” Horner said, questioning the final email tally (2,100), and the “impressively anemic content/volume ratio” of that which was delivered: “First, the WaPo daily news brief. Then Google alerts for “Lisa Jackson EPA” (any for “Richard Windsor”?). Then EPA HQ national news clips. And so on. Rope a dope. Clever. Maybe too much so,” he said in an email to POLITICO.

USGS CHIEF LEAVING NEXT MONTH: U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt plans to step down on Feb. 15 and will return to California. McNutt timed her departure to follow the launch of the Landsat 8 satellite on Feb. 11, she wrote Friday in a message to employees. “I have found almost without exception that you are all committed, thoughtful, open to discourse, passionate about our mission, and hard working,” McNutt wrote in the letter as posted online by Arizona’s state geologist ( http://bit.ly/UcqlaN). “We might not always agree on the best way forward, but we do agree on the goal: making USGS science the absolute best that it can be.” Deputy Director Suzette Kimball will become acting director and Bill Werkheiser, USGS's associate director for water, will become the acting deputy director. Recommendations for a successor will come from a committee of the National Academy.

Rumor has it: The rumor at the University of California at San Diego is McNutt may be picked as the new director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the San Diego Reader writes. McNutt earned her doctorate in earth sciences at SIO in 1978 and led the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute for 12 years before taking over USGS in 2009. SDR: http://bit.ly/VUHZ22

VILSACK STICKING AROUND: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack plans to stick around after President Barack Obama asked him to stay on. “President Obama and I share a deep appreciation for rural America and its unlimited potential in the years ahead to feed a growing world population, revolutionize America’s energy, further protect our natural resources and create more jobs here at home,” Vilsack said. Vilsack has been tangoing with Congress to hammer out a five-year farm bill. http://politi.co/W4DxOs

CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENT DROPPED IN 2012, BNEF SAYS: New global investment in clean energy dropped 11 percent from 2011 to 2012, from $302 billion to $269 billion, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report out Monday. Despite the drop, that's still the second-highest year for investment, beating out 2010's $251 billion in investments. Concern over the expiration of tax provisions and competition from natural gas caused a 32 percent drop in investment in the U.S., and other large drops in markets like Italy and Spain were offset by increased investment in China, BNEF said. More: http://bit.ly/V9aWZS

API HAS NEW AD CAMPAIGN: The American Petroleum Institute will announce a new ad campaign today "to highlight downstream issues including pipelines and the value of a strong domestic refining industry," according to the group. The new campaign comes just about one year after API’s “Vote 4 Energy” campaign began. In one TV ad previewed for ME, a narrator touts refinery and pipeline jobs and says, “It’s the world’s largest energy infrastructure — billions of investments in America, safely providing the fuels we need to power businesses, heat our homes and keep America on the move.” API declined to say how much it plans to spend on the campaign. Watch: http://bit.ly/WYxlWH

** A message from America’s Natural Gas Alliance: USGS recently released a water quality study providing further evidence that natural gas development is conducted safely and responsibly. After analyzing 127 Arkansas water wells, agency scientists concluded that observed water quality was the result of natural processes — not natural gas development. http://bit.ly/WGECKU **

ALSO COMING TODAY

— Advanced Energy Economy will release a report concluding the U.S. advanced energy market grew 19 percent from 2011 to 2012 and that the global market is worth $1.1 trillion. AEE will host an 11:30 a.m. webinar: http://bit.ly/WH8KWJ

— The NRDC is putting out an update interactive tool mapping extreme weather events, including thousands of new weather records. The group will also rank the states by percentage of weather stations reporting at least one new monthly heat record.

ATLANTIC WIND CONNECTION MOVING FORWARD ON FIRST LEG: The New York Times: “An audacious plan to lay a multibillion-dollar wind power transmission spine under the seabed from southern Virginia to the New York City area will take a step forward on Tuesday with an announcement of plans for the first leg, a 189-mile segment running from Jersey City to a spot south of Atlantic City.” http://nyti.ms/13wZhIf

POMPEO TO REINTRODUCE BILL ENDING SUBSIDIES: Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) today will reintroduce his legislation from the last congress targeting a variety of tax credits (with a few small adjustments). A House GOP aide tells ME that the bill, which picked up 28 Republican co-sponsors but didn’t see much movement in the last Congress, as well as the larger issue of energy tax provisions in general, is getting more attention from members following the fiscal cliff deal, which included an extension of the wind production tax credit and other energy provisions.

HOW BAD IS CHINA’S POLLUTION PROBLEM? Yesterday state news sources like People’s Daily began publishing “aggressive reports” on air pollution levels, which are the highest since the U.S. embassy in Beijing began measuring them in 2008 and fueled a jump in hospital admissions for respiratory problems on Monday. “The seemingly never-ending haze and fog may blur our vision,” People’s Daily wrote in a front-page editorial, “but makes us see extra clearly the urgency of pollution control and the urgency of the theory of building a socialist ecological civilization, revealed at the 18th Party Congress.” The New York Times has more: http://nyti.ms/XykTzU

THE REAL ONE, NOT THE HOLOGRAM: Will.I.Am will perform at the 2013 Green Inaugural Ball on Sunday, organizers will announce today. Other attendees include Agriculture Secretary Tim Vilsack and several Redskins players.

SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED: President Obama yesterday put his John Hancock on a bill, H.R. 4606, authorizing the National Park Service to conduct permitting maintenance operations for a natural gas pipeline that runs through Montana’s Glacier National Park.

ENERGY NOT BIGGEST PROBLEM, SURVEY SAYS: Energy, climate and environment issues aren’t generally seen as the most important problem facing America today, according to an open-ended Gallup poll conducted last week. Just one percent said fuel and oil prices were the top problem, on par with similar surveys conducted since last summer; the same number pointed to the environment and pollution. The top issues were the economy in general (21 percent) and the federal budget deficit (20 percent). Gallup: http://bit.ly/W53MnM

BOEM HOSTS HOW-TO ON OFFSHORE WIND AUCTIONS: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold the first of two public seminars today to talk about how to participate in scheduled auctions of offshore renewable energy plots off the coasts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia. The first seminar is today at 12:30 p.m. in Narragansett, R.I., with a second on Thursday in Richmond, Va. The auctions themselves come later this year.

QUICK HITS

— House Science chairman plans a hearing soon "on the current state of the environment," The Dallas Morning News reports: http://bit.ly/UbGQnq

— A Harvard sociologist blames a lack of action on climate change on environmental groups that underestimated Republican opposition, the Guardian writes: http://bit.ly/VblU1a

— CONSOL Energy plans to sell up to $312 million in assets this year while ramping up natural gas production. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/W35F4s

— A former BP engineer has had his trial over allegedly destroying evidence in the 2010 spill postponed until June. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/W4acD7

— The U.S.'s largest supplier of polysilicon plans to lay off 400 people amid a global oversupply of the material. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/W3YisS

THAT’S ALL FOR ME. Have a great day.

** A message from America's Natural Gas Alliance: We believe in a clean energy future. Natural gas is a cleaner energy choice and a key partner to solar and wind technologies. From California to Florida, natural gas facilities are working with renewable energy to ensure steady, affordable and cleaner energy choices for communities across our nation. Because it is an abundant and affordable energy source available right here in America, natural gas can help make the promise of cleaner energy a reality in more American communities. Natural gas is smarter power today. Visit anga.us to learn more. **

** A message from Vet Voice Foundation: Tens of thousands of service members and veterans rely on public lands to hunt, fish, camp and heal from the wounds of war. These lands are part of the American heritage we fought for. As a new President and Congress look to rebuild America's infrastructure, we call on them to make an equal investment in maintaining our public lands and parks for our service members and all Americans. Support for our veterans must extend to investing in and protecting America’s natural heritage, for our children and grandchildren. www.VetVoiceFoundation.org **

Authors:

About The Author

Alex Guillén is an energy reporter for POLITICO Pro, where he covers EPA, regulations and coal, as well as lobbying and campaign finance in the energy realm. He previously wrote the Morning Energy newsletter. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., with a degree in anthropology and English. He is an avid reader and TV binger. The Delawarean, thrilled that there are finally Capriotti’s outposts in Washington, lives in Alexandria, Va.